A Different Path
by Alcham of the Vael
Summary: Sometimes, all that it takes is one person or event to take you down a different path. In Naruto's childhood, he met two people willing to call him their own, even if it was for a short while. As the people around Naruto learn that there is far more to him than meets the eye, he comes into his own along a different path. (M for a reason, you're warned.)
1. Prologue

I know I don't have the best track- Alright, I'm terrible at getting stories down and out. However, the outline I wrote up ended up catching my mind like the silly plot bunny it is, and so I decided to see what would happen if I flesh it out a bit. So, for now, here's a prologue... maybe if my brain keeps this up, I'll have a first chapter out quickly.

Prologue: A Changing Path

(Naruto: Age 6, first year of academy)

"Jiji, jiji!" Naruto called as he entered the Hokage's office.

The man behind the desk looked up from his paperwork. He was a man in his mid sixties with a kind, grandfatherly face, short white hair and a receeding ("I'm not balding, damnit!") hairline. He seemed both overjoyed and surprised at the young blonde bounding into his office, and put aside his pen to catch the energetic youth in a happy hug. "Naruto-kun, it's good to see you! I must admit, I was getting worried for a short while there when you locked yourself in your house."

The young blonde boy winced and his overjoyed cerulean eyes showed pain for a brief moment. "Yeah... but... Hikari-nee-chan and Hitomi-kaa-chan wouldn't want to see me like that, right?"

Hiruzen nodded slowly and sadly at that. "That is very true, Naruto-kun. And you know they could still wake up, so the best you can do for them is make many happy memories to tell them about."

"Hai!" the blonde boy chirped, returning to his happy-go-lucky attitude. "And that's why I came up with this awesome new jutsu!"

"Oh?" Hiruzen asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

"Watch closely old man!" Naruto declared, jumping into the middle of the room. "Oiroke no Jutsu!"

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the cloud of smoke. "Centerfold Technique?" he murmured curiously under his breath.

His eyes widened to improbable portions when a rather beautiful young blonde woman with hopeful cerulean eyes and six whisker marks appeared from the smoke... with only a few tendrils covering up the parts that every man dreams of. "Hai, Hokage-sama... you do like it, right?" she asked in a hopeful/playful tone.

It proved to be too much for the old man, who went rocketing back to the wall with a massive nosebleed.

Naruto dispelled the technique, but for some reason kept himself as a girl. "Jiji?" the now female blonde asked, poking the old man with a stick that had mysteriously appeared next to the old man. (The ANBU who did it later received a reprimand and a bonus at the same time. The reprimand from the male ANBU... the bonus from her fellow kunoichi.) Her eyes widened and her eyes began tearing up as she came to the only conclusion that her young mind could accept with all the blood coming out of Hiruzen's nose. "NOOOO! I BLEW UP JIJI'S BRAAAIIN!"

"No you didn't, Naruto...chan," an ANBU told her with barely suppressed mirth. "Hokage-sama just wasn't prepared for that technique, and passed out. Now why don't you dispel your henge, and we'll go get some ramen?"

Naruto blinked before grinning at the ANBU. "But Cat, if this were a Henge, wouldn't it dispel when you touched me?"

Neko blinked and picked up the blonde to hold her at eye level. "How... how are you doing this?" she asked with honest surprise and a small amount of admiration in her voice.

Naruto blushed at the praise. "I was kinda trying to use the academy henge, but I think the teachers didn't give me the right one..." she admitted. "So I just tried to copy the handsigns and imagined what I wanted to look like. It kinda hurt the first time, like... like that first time I saw you all... but afterword I looked like this. So I tried changing back, and ta-da! I can be either Naruto or Naruko at will now!"

Neko nodded, making a mental note to talk to the academy teachers about this when all was said and done. "I didn't think you remembered that night, Naruko-chan," Neko told him as she headed to the door.

Naruko looked at his favourite ANBU (just barely, and if asked Inu would also rank as first) sadly. "Don't you know, cat-chan? I never forget anything at all."

Neko stroked the young boys hair and headed down to Ichiraku's Ramen for several bowls for the blonde. 'I know... and I hope the villagers who torment you find out once they finally see who you really are.' she thought to herself.

(line break, four months later)

Naruto sighed for what seemed the hundredth time that day as Iruka tried to keep everyone's attention on task. Ever since he'd shown Hiruzen that technique, the Hokage had expected a great many things from the young boy. And Naruto had promised to do great things! But dammit, the academy was boring!

But, he couldn't ditch today. He'd heard that Uchiha Sasuke was returning to school, and his three best friends (Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji) were stuck there too. "Come on, bell, ring already..." he grumbled as the day dragged on.

"Quiet," Ino hissed from beside him. "This genjutsu is hard enough to hold up without muffling our sound, do you want Iruka to figure it out?"

Naruto gulped and quieted down, turning to the others who were on the two rows affected by the genjutsu. He was situated next to Ino, with Chouji on the other end of the top row, and the row below him had Kiba, Shikamaru (whom had fallen asleep once the genjutsu was up) and Hyuuga Hinata, who would steal a glance at him whenever he wasn't looking, or at least she thought he wasn't looking. He looked at Kiba and caught the young Inuzuka's attention, showing the seals for Kawarimi no Jutsu to the young Inuzuka. Kiba shrugged and waited for the replacement, and Ino silently cursed the two as she strained to contain the slight puff of smoke and noise of the jutsu.

"N-n-naruto-kun?" Hinata stuttered quietly when she realized he was sitting next to her, her shy nature coming to the forefront.

"Hiya, Hinata-chan!" Naruto replied quietly with a large smile that slowly turned slightly nervous. "Um... why do you keep looking at me? Do I have something on my face?"

She blushed slightly and shook her head. "N-no, Naruto-kun..."

"Uh... so...?" he asked, not sure what else it could be.

Hinata gathered up her courage and quietly said, "I-I was th-thinking w-we could b-be friends?"

Naruto grinned hugely and nodded enthusiastically. It was just then that Uchiha Sasuke came through the doors of the classroom. Everyone in there noticed that the once bright, bubbly young Uchiha had changed drastically, scowling everywhere and glaring at everyone so fiercely that, had he put chakra behind it, it may have lit something on fire. Things were changing, and that was not necessarily a good thing.


	2. To Become A Gennin

Huh. Plot bunnies abound, and I've got a few more chapters done... we'll see how this goes for now!

(Chapter 1: To Become a Gennin...)

Naruto and Hinata jumped over the rooftops, laughing happily as they dodged the ANBU and Hyuuga that had taken up the chase after their latest prank; dying the entire Hokage Tower a bright, flaming lavender-orange striped pattern. They knew that it would take time that they probably didn't have, but the opportunity for this great prank was far too great to pass up for the pair.

It had been seven years since the two had become friends, and the change that it had wrought in both of them was easily observed. After a few months, Hinata had finally gotten over her stutter, and after a year not one person in their class could mistake her as anything but confident. As her confidence rose, so too did her position in the class, until she surpassed Sakura as the top kunoichi. Naruto, on the other hand, had calmed down (only very slightly, but enough to show how focused he could be when he wanted to) and with Hinata's help had set to working on his chakra control and studies. She quickly brought out his incredible ability to learn new things and improvise on the fly, and with her help he became the best candidate for Rookie of the year.

Of course, if they didn't get to the academy before the ANBU could catch them, those titles would have to wait another year.

This little fact didn't deter them for long, as they quickly summoned up a few bunshin and shot off toward the academy while the bunshin took the heat. The two friends waited for a moment as the ANBU passed before they laughed again.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata said when they had recovered and were once more running toward the Academy, "how did you get a hold of the guard schedule?"

"Jiji left it out on his desk the other day while I was there after our 'Giant Lake of Doom' prank, and-"

"You just couldn't help glancing at it," Hinata finished, knowing that her friend (and secret crush) only needed half a glance to memorize the schedule. "I swear, if the test hadn't come back negative for the Sharingan, I'd swear you were more of an Uchiha than Sasuke."

"Oi! It's not my fault that I just have an amazing memory!" Naruto jokingly complained. "Besides, if I didn't have that oh-so-awesome memory, you'd still be stuck teaching me how to read and write!"

Hinata nodded, keeping the frown from her face at that. She had learned rather early in their friendship about the two Inuzuka that had taken the boy in as family and what had happened to them when it was discovered that they had been trying to teach Naruto how to read a children's book. She had comforted him and helped him manage the grief that had come with their deaths, and part of doing so had been teaching Naruto how to read and write. In turn, he had shown her a secret that had shocked her even as it chilled her to teh bone, knowing what it meant for the young shinobi in their military-oriented world even if he did not. "Come on, we still have five minutes before the exam," she called, derailing herself from the depressing thoughts. "I'll race you there!"

"Um... we're already going full speed," Naruto deadpanned. The glare he got in return made him shut up and race her, even as he blushed as he thought, 'damnit, she's cute when she's mad...'

(line break)

"Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto... why am I not surprised?" Iruka groaned as he turned back to the class. One minute he had been worried that his two prize students (how the hell they managed that when they were out of the classroom pulling pranks half the time, he would never know) were going to miss the Gennin Exam, their seats empty as they usually were, and after a brief glance at the board and a quiet 'poof' of a kawarimi, the two students were in their proper seats.

"Because you're an awesome teacher that has come to expect this sort of thing from your awesomely attentive and great students?" Naruto ventured.

"I'll believe that the day you two spend an entire day in class," Iruka deadpanned. He looked at the clock and sighed. "Well, come on, it's time for the Gennin Exams. First things first, the written exam."

For some reason, Iruka really didn't like the menacing grin on Naruto's face or the calculating look on Hinata's. It couldn't possibly be...

(line break)

"Alright, now that the written exam is out of the way, even with the... incident..." Iruka shuddered as he remembered the brief interlude when hundreds of kittens, fox kits and other various small/cute animals invaded the classroom and proceeded to make one hell of a mess, "it's time for the targeting portion of the test, starting with..."

The gennin hopefuls zoned out for a moment as they waited for their name to be called. Most of them did average (notably Sakura, Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru, who all scored exactly the number needed to pass), a few did rather laughably (poor Kiba never really was good with anything he couldn't just punch...) and a smaller few did very well; Naruto and Sasuke scored all but one hit within the 'kill' zones marked on the target, and Hinata managed a perfect score.

Next was the sparring, which Iruka and Mizuki would split. Hinata noticed that the schedule had changed at 'random' and that Naruto was right after Mizuki's switch, when Mizuki would be fresh to unleash a beating on the blonde boy. Hinata knew that while Naruto was used to the abuse of the villagers, he was somewhat oblivious to how people actually treated him as long as he got some attention from them. Thus, he would likely take a severe beating from the white haired chuunin before all was said and done. However, Hinata managed to get the first shot against Mizuki by saying she was feeling a bit off and needed a bit more time to stretch before fighting. The poor chuunin never knew what hit him when Hinata came at him with her family's taijutsu style, followed by a very flexible and painfully accurate Naruto.

After Mizuki had recovered and the rest of the Taijutsu portion had been finished up, the jutsu portion began. The class entered the doors one by one, until finally Naruto was the only one left. The blonde nin had discovered years ago that except under certain circumstances, he didn't have enough control over his chakra to perform the three academy basics.

"Ready, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, assuming the traditional Jyuuken stance.

"Yep, just make the hits count," Naruto nodded, bracing himself.

"Four trigams, thirty-two palms," Hinata intoned before blocking off a good portion of the tenketsu in Naruto's body.

Naruto thanked her with a brief hug (which managed to make her blush slightly, even after having gotten used to the affectionate boy), and dodged into the room. Three near perfectly performed academy rank jutsu later (and one rather confused Mizuki and Iruka), and Naruto walked out with a hitae-ate. This wasn't the pitch black one for the Rookie of the Year, oh no, for you see...

"Alright, that's the exams, congratulations to those who passed, and congratulations to Hinata, our first ever Kunoichi to make Rookie of the Year!" Iruka proclaimed proudly. "Since you've all done so wonderfully, go ahead and have the rest of the day off!" The class emptied so fast that Iruka couldn't hold in the sweat-drop at the cloud of ninja smoke that had been conjured. "Wow... I guess they're excited, eh Mizuki?" He looked around curiously and noted the lack of his aide. "Mizuki?"

(line break)

"See, I told you that you were the best one in the class!" Naruto cheered Hinata as they walked away from the the academy.

Hinata sighed with a slight smile at her best friend's antics. "And what about your dreams to be Hokage? Don't you need to at least be the best of the best to become the Hokage?" Hinata chided.

"Meh, I've still got a few years," Naruto shrugged with a grin. "Besides, I've just graduated, I've still got a few months to work out some kinks, dattebayo!" His face went blank for a moment as Hinata giggled, and the last word out of his mouth registered in his mind. "I'll get that out of my system someday, I swear," he groaned as Hinata finally progressed into full blown laughter. "And dangit, Hinata, I thought you were on my side!"

"I am, Naruto-kun," Hinata giggled as she ran away, "but sometimes it's just too easy!"

Naruto sighed as she ran off toward her home and he turned toward the academy. "Geez, even if she did help me get out from being dead last, she doesn't have to laugh at-" he was cut off as a dark blur ran into him with an 'oof'.

"Watch where you're going dope," the person said, revealing himself as one rather emo Uchiha Sasuke.

"Oi, who you calling a dope?" Naruto growled. "And where are you going so damned fast?!"

"Mizuki-sensei told me a way to get back my rightful title as the Rookie of the Year," Sasuke revealed smugly. "All I have to do is get the replica of the Scroll of Sealing from the Hokage's Office, and I'll push that little bitch of a Hyuuga out of my way like everyone else."

Naruto glared at Sasuke. Ever since that day several years ago, Naruto had been trying to break the emo Uchiha out of his shell, and about a month ago he had finally succeeded... much to his own chagrin. The Last Uchiha had been so bitter that it carried over into what was left of his personality, and he now had a superiority complex the size of the moon and very little care for others. "Hinata-chan actually worked to get where she is, she wasn't just handed everything, teme," Naruto snapped at Sasuke.

"And I'll take it from her, since I deserve it more," Sasuke finished, running off toward the Hokage's tower. Naruto scowled and shot after him and decided to get the Uchiha's objective before Sasuke could take it. Even if he was offered the position of Rookie of the Year, Hinata deserved it more and he'd let her have it.

(line break)

Naruto sighed as he entered the Hokage's office, thanking the years of experience that allowed him to dodge the ANBU where Sasuke was still waiting for an opportunity. He was just about out of the room with the target scroll when he heard the Hokage ask, "Naruto-kun, what in the world are you doing here tonight with the Scroll of Sealing?"

Naruto sighed. "Keeping Sasuke-teme from stealing Hinata-chan's Rookie of the Year title," Naruto groused. "Mizuki-sensei told the teme that if he got the Scroll of Sealing, he'd be awarded extra points on his exam and be given the Rookie of the Year title in Hinata-chan's place."

He turned to the Hokage, who had a deep frown on his face. "Naruto-kun, there are no such extra points to be awarded on that exam," the Hokage said after a moment, making Naruto's eyes widen. "If Mizuki told Sasuke of this, then I can only assume that Mizuki intends to betray us and take the Scroll of Sealing for his own, or to bargain for a position in another village."

"B-But, why would he-?"

"I do not know, Naruto-kun," the Hokage said sternly. "However, I have a counter-proposal for you." The Hokage took a scroll from behind his desk and used a quick genjutsu to make it appear to be the Scroll of Sealing. "I have not changed the contents of this scroll, which is one that I was intending to give to you tomorrow... it shall tell you some things which you are finally ready to know," Hiruzen said with a warm smile. "This scroll has a technique from myself as well, and something which I know you have been wanting dearly. I have deemed you ready to know about your mother, though your father shall as yet be unknown to you, as he had many dangerous enemies even within the village."

Naruto's eyes had widened to the size of saucers by this point and he shakily traded the Scroll of Sealing for the one which held something far more sacred in his opinion. He quickly burst out of the office running, not noticing the Uchiha whom had finally arrived and quickly chased after Naruto, intent on getting the scroll from the dope.

(line break)

Naruto stopped in the clearing that he knew was his own. No one had ever manage to follow him here, and he knew that Hinata would never reveal his most treasured place without his consent. It was a small clearing just on the other side of a waterfall in one of the training grounds, carved out of the stone mountain and containing what appeared to be an impossibly placed meadow of trees, grass and flowers in the middle of a bedrock cavern. It was here that he knew without a doubt that he would not need to worry about being seen. He pulled out his scroll and began to read.

Naruto-kun,

I know that you've been looking forward to reading about your family for a long while, but first I must teach you something that they instructed me to do before you could learn about them. They were both experts in Fuuinjutsu, and they asked me to make sure that you would learn a bit of it yourself, even if you chose not to follow their path. First, you must learn the jutsu that your mother believes will be of great use to you in the future, the Kage Bunshin. It takes a great amount of chakra, but the benefits for one such as you are worth it. It not only gives you solid clones to work with, but each one is a nearly perfect copy of you and whatever they learn, you learn when they dispel.

As soon as you have learned that, learn a little bit about sealing; specifically, storage seals and how they work. When you manage to finish that, you will understand how to get your mother's letter, and I shall be glad to answer any questions you have.

As a last note, when you have finished the letter, you shall understand what I mean by this: I am so very sorry for denying the truth so long, and I should not have kept it secret without telling you.

Hokage-jiji.

Naruto let out a small laugh as he saw that the Hokage had actually signed as 'Hokage-jiji' before he read over the jutsu that had been provided for him, setting to work in what time he had left before anyone found him.

(three hours later...)

Hinata came into the cave to a sight she wasn't exactly able to make sense of. Ten Naruto's were pouring over a set of books, all looking away from a stunned Naruto who was sitting there staring at a scroll blankly. "Naruto-kun?" Hinata called softly, making the staring Naruto look over to her. "What's wrong, Naruto?" she asked worriedly.

He handed her the scroll, and as she read her eyes widened and she moved closer to Naruto.

Naruto...

Hey, it's your mom! If you're reading this letter, then something happened and I can't be there for ya. Sorry, Honestly (most likely) not my fault! I know that there's a lot that you'd like to know about me, so I put my diary in the seal at the bottom of the page. You probably want to know who I am, so I'll let you know right now, my name's Uzumaki Kushina, the Red Whirlwind, Princess of Uzu no Kuni and (now second to) last of the Uzumaki Royal Line. That makes you the prince of Uzu no Kuni! Pretty great, huh?

If I'm telling you all of this, then you're old enough to take on the Uzumaki's enemies and I shouldn't worry about you. I tried sending out a few messengers across the world to let the clan remnants know that Konoha was willing to take us in, but that was in the middle of the third war... heh, a lesson for you, don't get too eager to do something and forget what's around you!

There's one last thing you need to know, and I'm so, so sorry about this. If I'm not around and you've been getting dirty looks, then our family secret has been moved to you in a violent way. The Uzumaki have always been the ones to hold this duty for Konoha, as we're the only ones who can safely handle it. We Uzumaki, since the beginning of Konoha and occasionally before, have been the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi no Kitsune. If this has been passed on to you, then I ask you to remember; only a fool forgets that the scroll is not the kunai sealed within, just as you are not the demon sealed within you. Find friends whom you can trust, and if they stick by your side after learning this then they are the truest and most worthy of all friends.

Know that I love you dearly and would never abandon you unless death itself parted us, my dearest son.

Uzumaki Kushina.

Hinata pulled Naruto into a warm embrace and held him there as Naruto finally broke down in tears. "S-She didn't abandon me," he sobbed into Hinata's shoulders. "She loved me... My mom cared about me..."

"Oh, Naruto," Hinata whispered as she stroked his hair, letting his tears of relief wash away years of worry and self loathing.

The moment didn't last very long, however, as Sasuke and Mizuki appeared in the cavern, having tracked Hinata to where Naruto was when she had gone looking for the boy.. Thankfully, the clones had heard the pair coming and had dispelled. "Dope, hand over the scroll of sealing and I won't beat the crap out of you," Sasuke sneered.

Naruto composed himself quickly and managed a grin. "Well, I'd do that, but... Kai," he called after he made a ram seal, shocking the pair as the rather plain and unassuming scroll replaced what they had thought was the scroll of sealing, "I kind of don't have the scroll of sealing, just a scroll on chakra exorcizes. Hokage declared me the winner of our little race and sent me off with a fake to help me prank you two!"

Mizuki was livid at this point. "What the fuck, Kyuubi brat?! How'd you know about that?!"

"Sasuke bragged to me, and I beat the teme to the Hokage tower," Naruto shrugged, grinning at the almost apoplectic Uchiha at this point. "Since I won, I decided that neither of us would get the extra points, and-"

"There were no extra points!" Mizuki practically screeched. "I was supposed to get the scroll and the fucking Uchiha, but I'll have to settle for killing you and stealing him instead!"

"Do you think that would be wise," Naruto asked curiously, noticing the figures creeping in on them from the dark. "After all, I am the last Uzumaki, which means that you would technically be attacking not just a clan heir, but the last heir to the Uzu no Kuni Daimyo's line."

Mizuki sputtered at that information and he was easy pickings for the ANBU that had been awaiting an opportunity. They took down the traitorous chuunin (and the unwitting accomplice of an Uchiha) and had them both off to the T&I Department. Ibiki had a few new toys that he wanted to try out, and the Hokage loved it when people broke his law... especially when traitors did it.

(line break)

Naruto stood in front of the Hokage a bit later that night after he and Hinata had gone over everything that had happened with Mizuki and Sasuke. The Uchiha had already gotten out thanks to his status as a clan heir and 'unwitting' accomplice/target in the scheme by the traitorous chuunin. Hiruzen sighed and slouched slightly as the last bit of information was recorded and the secretary left the room. "I am sorry that this information was not revealed to you sooner, Naruto, but it was only once you managed to master those techniques slightly that you were allowed to know, and even then you were only to try after you made gennin."

"It's alright, jiji," Naruto said with a small smile, patting the pouch where the scroll adn its contents now rested inside of a much smaller sealing scroll. "I kind of understand. Besides, now it gave me the idea for a whole new jutsu!"

"And what is this technique?" Hiruzen asked once more, only this time with considerably more caution.

"It's a totally killer combination technique! First: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called, filling the office with clones.

"And second?" the Hokage asked, fearing where this was going.

"Haremu no Jutsu!" Naruto called, causing the Hokage to pale rapidly, then blush as he was surrounded by a mass of naked women of all shapes and sizes.

"Hokage-sama!" they all called at the same time. The Hokage flew almost all the way to the top of the Hokage Monument at this sight, and was admitted to the hospital with severe sinus hemmoraging. When he came to, it was to a note that said 'and that's my revenge! Muahaha!' with a chibi-Naruto drawn holding out a peace sign.

The Hokage noted the technique appropriately under the same heading as the infamous 'Ten Thousand Years of Agony' that Senju Tsunade had learned from her grandmother, Uzumaki Mito. After all, one did not piss off an Uzumaki, and Hiruzen had just given the young blonde the tools to become as great as his clan ever had been, even if it was unwittingly. He almost cried at that realization, terrified of the paperwork it would cause.

(*Well, this will be fun! Also, there's something I've been forgetting to mention... I OWN NOTHING! I DON'T EVEN OWN MY OWN TIME ANY MORE! ((on a side note, C.R. England is a terrible trucking company with how it handles people's home time.)))


	3. Fuuinjutsu? You mean Fun-Jutsu!

Aaaand! Here's chapter 2! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it! Also... I own nothing, not even my own time!

(Chapter 2: Fuuinjutsu? You mean Fun-Jutsu!)

After the Mizuki incident, it was decided that all of the happenings at the academy would get a second look-through, and the students had a 'free week' to study and be interviewed before the gennin placement would take place to weed out those who couldn't make the cut. Hinata was studying with her family during this time, and Naruto decided to do something that he hadn't even considered doing before.

He tried making as many Kage-Bunshin as he could (which was admittedly easier once he used a secret trick of his while no one was around) and sent all of those clones off to the library. He had learned last night that the Kage Bunshin could be used to study and practice jutsu to a frightening extent, and whatever they learned would be recorded just as well as if he himself had done the study or practice.

After a brief moment of memory backlash, he decided that having the clones dispel five at a time in half second intervals was the best way to get the most information quickly with the least headache.

However, even while his clones studied, he knew that there were a couple of things that he needed to take care of. First and foremost; his physical training. And so he was walking to the training grounds where he had heard that one of the Living Legends of Konoha practiced with his team and anyone who could stomach hi...s exorcizes. Let's go with the exorcizes.

"Ah, another Youthful One has found the training grounds of the Great Green Beast, Maito Gai!" a voice shouted rather enthusiastically as Naruto beheld his doo- temporary sensei. He was somewhere around six feet tall, built like any woman's dream of a perfect body... and topped it off with terrifyingly thick eyebrows, a diamond-hard bowl cut, and a blindingly clashing green spandex jumpsuit and orange leg warmers.

"Yo! I heard you were offering Taijutsu courses, or help on a Taijutsu style if someone couldn't get it right?" Naruto questioned, hoping that the spandex-clad terror that his eyes beheld would answer him no.

"Yosh! That would be most correct! I help those in need of Youthful Aide to begin their Springtimes of Youth in Taijutsu!" Gai exclaimed. "I take it by your inquiry that you are having some difficulty with your Taijutsu? I shall aid you, and if I cannot then I shall climb the Hokage's monument with my left hand! And if I cannot do that, then I shall run around Konoha backwards and blindfolded one thousand times! And if I cannot do that-"

"Gai-sensei!" an exasperated girl's voice exclaimed, "we get the idea!"

"Yosh! So how can we help you?" Gai continued unabated.

"Uh... do you know anything about the Dance of the Whirlpool?" Naruto ventured.

This gained him a stern once over that made him sweat, followed by a huge grin that made him sweat even more. "Ah! So you are the one that the council is in an uproar over!" Gai proclaimed. "I do not know much of the style, but I do know the basics of how you are to move within the style!"

Naruto nodded with a grin. "Great! So, will you help me?" he asked hopefully.

"Yosh! Are you willing to perform the standard payment for my most Wondrous and Youthful services?" Gai replied/asked in return.

"Yep! While I'm learning, you get to learn as well, until I either find a better teacher or you decide to stop learning with me, right?" Naruto asked. He knew that Gai was a man of honor, and any taijutsu that he learned from a clan or individual he would never reveal without the permission of said clan or individual.

"Yosh! That is most correct my youthful new student! Now, let us begin! Lee, come forth, we require a most youthful assistant in practicing this style!" Gai called.

Naruto's eyeballs almost melted out of his skull in terror as he beheld what no man ever should. There were two of the 'Youthful Terrors.' It was almost enough to make him cry, and he had a week to learn as much of the style with the two green beasts as possible. There was no way... they began a man-hug, and Naruto's mind retreated to its happy place as the Unbreakable Genjutsu did its work on his eyes. This time he did cry, and he was not afraid to admit it later.

(line break)

After the other two teammates came over and introduced themselves (Naruto thanked whatever Kami was listening that he didn't have to meet two more green beasts), Gai got started on a lecture for the gennin hopeful. "Now, I understand that your endeavor to learn this most youthful style is to honor your clan, but I must ask if you understand the other requirements for it?"

"I have my clones learning Fuuinjutsu in the library right now," Naruto replied. "They got through Intermediate II last night, and I should have Advanced IV done tonight if they keep the pace up."

Gai's eyes widened to the size of saucers before proclaiming, "Yosh! You must have a most Youthful memory if you are able to learn so quickly!"

"Nah," Naruto replied with a weak smile, "I just have a lot of chakra."

"Then we shall take advantage of that most youthful fact!" Gai declared. "We shall train in the full springtimes of our youth until we are exhausted, and then we shall push further beyond that! And if we cannot, then I shall-" Naruto tuned the excentric jounin out for his own sanity, hoping that he'd be able to ignore the jounin once this was all said and done.

(line break)

The next morning Naruto awoke to a sensation that he had not expected; pain. It felt like his body had been hit with a high level Katon technique and then left to repair itself, and his head felt two sizes too small for his brain. The last time he had felt like this was when... he shook his head, dismissing the troubling line of thought as he went over what his clones had done.

He was both pleasantly surprised and mildly annoyed at the discovery of what had happened. They had almost revealed one of his secrets, but in turn had revealed something that he hadn't known that allowed him to learn everything the library had to offer almost perfectly in one night. The only sections that he didn't have memorized were the history section and the Jutsu section, which he had purposefully avoided. The section on Sealing, however, had yielded amazing results. He hadn't just finished off Advanced IV, he had found out that the Hokage still had the Uzumaki Scrolls. After a bit of negotiating (I.E., using and then promising not to use certain techniques), Naruto had managed to convince the Hokage to give his cones the scrolls.

The result was seven hundred clones going over a massive amount of information that the Uzumaki had left behind for whomever returned to Konoha. Naruto's clones had eagerly read and absorbed all of the information in the scrolls and Naruto was far more knowledgible and impressed on what the Uzumaki had accomplished.

He frowned as he left the bedroom to make a good sized batch of coffee. His training with Gai had also yielded both impressive results and massive pain. The blonde couldn't remember a single more effective training session that he had ever partaken in, and with the jounin's help he had gone through how to move in the style. Now all that was left was learning the style itself, and he had time in spades to work that out, especially with the clone's help.

He decided to test how much he actually retained from the clone's practice in copying seals, and scribed down a few of those less likely to explode if he got them wrong. Much to his delight, each of them came out perfectly, the hours of practice in writing translating wonderfully to his muscle memory. He didn't understand how the physical aspect of the training carried over, but he wasn't about to complain! The next step was to try the Uzumaki style of sealing, for which he needed to activate a part of his bloodline.

He grinned and downed what remained of his coffee and belatedly grabbed a pack of instant ramen and some hot water in a thermos. It was time to get to work!

(One run, a chomped Ramen, chugged hot water, and several confused ANBU later...)

Naruto opened up the door to the shrine hidden deep within the Forest of Death. This was a place he had read about in the Uzumaki Scrolls; the Forest of Death was truly the Uzumaki's Estate within Konohagakure no Sato, and the animals tended to look after the place rather nicely thanks to the Contract Seals scribed across the grounds. He had shown this section of the scroll to the Hokage, and the kindly old man had cackled as he handed the keys to the property to the young gennin with a mention to clean the place up and keep an eye out for anything the previous visitors had left behind.

It was here that he had decided to set up his new 'home'. His apartment had become a hovel in his opinion, and with all the raw material available to him here he would have a new home in no time. He made a battalion of clones to start the cleanup, fixup and buildup, and was glad that they were just as enthused as he was as he walked through the doors to find the seals he would need.

The Uzumaki Bloodline was all about their utterly unique chakra, or at least the more well known part of it was. It was able to become solid, tangible and malleable, and easily made the inkless medium for sealing that took some shinobi decades to master. With practice, it could create physical weapons that far outstripped that of normal steel, including chains that could hold down even the mightiest of the Bijuu.

Naruto quickly found what he could in the shrine to help him learn how to use the bloodline; the seals that aided the Uzumaki to control their massive chakra reserves with the perfection of the Senju themselves. Thanks to the fact that the Uzumaki clan as a whole was characterized by reserves that could rival the Bijuu themselves, they had their own rather unique problem: Control Fatigue. They could cast any number of genjutsu, but the effort of controlling their chakra so finely often left them more fatigued than the loss of said chakra in the first place.

So, Naruto delved into the shrine, hoping to find those seals rather than have to make them himself. If anything went wrong, one of the clones could dispel and let him know before it got too late. He grinned when he finally opened the blood-sealed doors to the innermost sanctum, and the numerous scrolls left behind.

(line break)

Hinata was worried for her Naruto. She didn't know where he was, and when she saw the Hokage about it all she got in return was a knowing chuckle and the admonishment to wait until the end of the week to see him. Today was team assignments, and she was worried that he hadn't passed after all. Iruka walked through the door with a black-stained and rather irritated young boy, and Hinata had to use her Byakugan to make sure it actually was who she thought it was. When it was confirmed, she had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing. Naruto was covered head to toe in chakra conductive ink.

"Now that we're all here, let's get started," Iruka announced, "Team one-"

"Wait, where's Naruto?" Kiba asked slightly confusedly. The ink covered boy raised his hand and the class as one went silent. "Uh... Naruto, did you get in a fight with an ink jutsu user and lose?" Kiba asked curiously. That was the signal for the entire class to begin laughing (with the exception of a rather broody Uchiha)

"Nah," Naruto shook his head. "The other guy lost." All laughter in the classroom cut off with a universal question mark over their heads, and Naruto just took the opportunity to run up to his seat.

"Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted, Kiba, (the Inuzuka had the courtesy to look embarrassed at that) Team One..."

Naruto and Hinata sat next to each other, waiting with baited breath to see who they'd be paired with. "Team Seven, Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto leaned forward, along with Hinata, "Haruno Sakura," The pair visibly deflated at that, and the pinkette groaned in annoyance, "and Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto cursed under his breath while Sakura squealed loudly (eliciting pained winces from a number of the class with enhanced hearing). "Your sensei is Hatake Kakashi." Naruto blinked at that, putting several pieces together with an odd tilt to his head.

"Team 8 is Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino. Your sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai." Hinata visibly wilted; she knew of Hatake's slightly perverted reputation and had been practically raised by Kurenai for a few years while she was still painfully shy.

The pair looked at each other and sighed. It looked like they'd be apart for a little while, but there were far worse fates.

(line break)

Naruto tapped his finger against the desk. "Alright, he's three hours late, I'm pranking him," he announced to the empty room. Sakura rolled her eyes at the blonde and Sasuke just 'hn'ed. Naruto was actually glad that the Yamanaka clan had sent him back a couple months as far as his emotional state went; some things needed to be taken slow, and Naruto had pushed the Uchiha too far too fast last time.

The blonde pulled out an ink brush and began writing a seal on the ground just inside the door. His teammates didn't pay much attention, until he unsealed what looked to be several gallons of honey, a pillow that was splitting at the seams with feathers, and a sealing scroll with the word 'badger' on it. "Naruto-baka, what are you planning?" Sakura finally asked.

"Oh, just a prank," Naruto replied innocently.

"Our sensei is a jounin, there's no way he'd fall for one of your silly pranks," Sakura chided, honestly believing her own words.

Naruto just shrugged and continued writing seals until he heard someone coming down the hall. He finished up using his chakra rather than a brush (which surprised the other two) and hopped back over to where the three desks were in the small side-room, doing his best to appear innocent. The door opened and Naruto felt regret for a split second as he recognized the man, before he remembered the fact that he had been three hours late.

The seals went off, a silver-haired jounin's eyes widened, and a very happy badger found quite a lot of honey covering the strangest chicken he'd ever seen.

(line break)

Once the badger had been pried off of the jounin and he'd had a number of shots from a laughing nurse at the school, the jounin tried to save his cool by telling them to meet on the roof five minutes later. Naruto had walked straight up the wall from the nurse's office and enjoyed the look of mild interest mixed with slight terror that the ex-ANBU gave him. "I see you've been working on your chakra control," Kakashi said blandly.

"Yep! And I've been working on how to incorporate seals into my pranks! How'd you like the 'Doomed Chicken' by the way?"

Kakashi glared balefully at the bouncing gennin. "I weep for any ANBU sent to retrieve you in the future," Kakashi replied honestly. "Where in kami's name did you get the badger?"

"Front yard," Naruto replied with a wicked grin, making Kakashi pale and mutter under his breath about how he would need more shots when this was all over. It was then that Sakura and Sasuke made their way to the roof and glared at the pair.

"Alright, now that we're all here, let's introduce ourselves, who wants to start?" Kakashi asked.

"Ah, how about you do, sensei, to show us how it's done?" Sakura asked in return, hoping to get something on the jounin.

"My name's Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes and one or two things I dislike. My goals... well, I have a few hobbies," Kakashi said, gaining a glare from the gennin. "Your turn, pinky," he decided.

"Right... I'm Haruno Sakura. I like... my hobbies... my goal..." she only stared at Sasuke and blushed at these. "And I don't like smug blondes!" Sakura declared.

Naruto sighed and grinned at Sakura. "Love you too, pinky," he said with a lot of cheek.

"Anyway, before we have a homicide on our hands, how about we continue on to Mr. Doom'n'Gloom," Kakashi hedged, trying to keep the rosette from killing the blonde.

"Hn. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have few likes, and I dislike everything else. My-"

"Hey, we already got a sucker intro from Rooster Head over there," Naruto groused, gaining a glare from the jounin. "I know you have a duck-butt to compliment his rooster-head, but at least be original!"

"..." Sasuke glared at the blonde. "My hobbies are training and reading jutsu scrolls. My goal is to restore my clan and kill my brother, though finding a way to kill a certain blonde might make the list if this keeps up."

"Love you too, Emo," Naruto grinned.

"Blondie, introduce yourself so you can make your escape," Kakashi reccomended, noting the (minor) KI leaking from the two other gennin.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like Ramen, kind people, and those who get to know a person before judging. My dislikes are the three minutes it takes for instant ramen to cook, people who judge a person for things outside of their control, and how long it's taking to repair the Uzumaki compound... I can't believe they used it for hosting the Chuunin Exams, Forest of Death my left ass cheek," Naruto bemoaned, gaining incredulous looks from the other three. "Anyway, I have a few goals; find all the missing remnants of the Uzumaki Clan, finish up learning all the Fuuinjutsu in Konoha so I can actually dissect them and make my own seals, find out who my dad is since I just learned who my mom was... and I do actually have a dream on top of that! To be the greatest Hokage that Konoha has ever had so I can protect my precious people!"

Kakashi blinked. "That was a rather lengthy introduction."

"Meh, I felt like actually doing it right, Rooster Sensei," Naruto shrugged.

Kakashi glared. "If you don't drop that, I'll send you back to the academy without even giving you the Gennin Exam Final."

"Wait, I thought we already passed! And love you too, Sensei," Naruto added.

"WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT!" Sakura shouted. "Seriously! Who don't you love?!"

"I'd answer that, but I don't want you guys to start hating Konoha," Naruto answered honestly, gaining disbelieving grunts from his teammates and a sigh from his sensei.

"Anyway, meet me tomorrow in training ground 7. We'll have a little survival test to see whether you join the shinobi ranks now, or go back to the academy and enter the Gennin Pool in two years. Bye!" Kakashi disappeared in a poof of smoke before the gennin could question him.

"Well," Naruto said as he walked to the side of the roof, "I'm gonna go trap the living hell out of that training ground for tomorrow. Either of you want to come?"

"No, not really," Sasuke and Sakura answered as one.

"Meh, suit yourselves. Later!" Naruto called as he walked down the side of the roof.

Sakura stared at the portion of the wall the blonde had just walked down and shook her head. "I think his crazy is rubbing off on the universe."

Sasuke just 'Hn'ed and used the distraction to escape the banshee before its wail could steal his soul.

(line break)

"Naruto... is there a reason why you're the only one here?" Kakashi asked curiously. It was 11:00, and he had just arrived to a strange sight. The blonde was waiting rather bored on the log, glaring at a spot somewhere in the woods.

"Yeah. I warned them not to walk in the woods... I told them last night I was going to trap the living hell out of this place... I even warned them while they were walking into the woods to stop so they wouldn't get trapped... they're about 200 feet that way," Naruto gestured annoyedly at the place where his teammates had wandered off to, "and they're currently sealed away into a pocket dimension filled with hyperactive squirrel girls after having been sprayed with 'Eu du Acorn'."

Kakashi blinked, then looked at his student. "What in Kami's Name have you been doing with those seals of yours, and why weren't they mentioned in the academy reports?"

"I've been using them to explore the multiverse - did you know that there are over 320,000 different versions of us? - with my clones, and they weren't mentioned in the reports because I've been learning them over the past week with the aide of Kage Bunshin."

Kakashi eyed his student warily. "You do realize that you can actually learn too much with that method and end up being stuck at a certain point for the rest of your life, basically brain dead, unable to learn anything new, right?"

"Um... actually, I kind of can't," Naruto replied with a grin. "I'm an Uzumaki, and part of our weird-ass bloodline is that our chakra acts however we need it to, including as additional memory based on how much we have... and has the Old Man told you how much chakra I have?"

Kakashi's face went blank. "Actually, he just laughed manically when he found out that I would be forced to pass you since the Uchiha's on your team. Speaking of, care to pull them out of your seals so that we can get this test on the road?" He caught Naruto's incredulous look and gave an eye-smile. "Hey, I still need to know how much you three need to learn, just don't tell those two what's going on."

Naruto sighed and de-activated the seals. "I guess, and I suppose you'll want me to act like an idiot through all of this, Dog-aniki?"

"Maa, maa, not necessarily that bad... just tone it down a bit, ANBU brat," Kakashi replied warmly, remembering the two years the blonde had spent in the ANBU headquarters and how much he had been missed once he moved out.

"One 'Average Gennin' (scoff) coming right up!" Naruto agreed. "Also... Hinata's going to have your head for this. She doesn't like me hiding what I can do, and now that I'm an actual shinobi she'll kill me if she finds out I did."

"Thus why you shall keep your mouth shut, or I shall re-instate The Diet," Kakashi cheerfully informed him.

Naruto shivered and nodded. Anything was worth avoiding The Diet.

(line break)

"So, Forehead," Ino said as a bedraggled Sakura made her way into the back room of the flower shop, "how'd it go?"

"Ugh..." Sakura groaned, slumping into one of the seats at the table. "Kakashi-sensei... is terrible. He caught me in a genjutsu where Sasuke-teme ha-"

"Wait, what did you just call Sasuke-kun?!" Ino asked sharply, surprised at her friend.

"He's a bastard, Ino," Sakura admitted, slamming her forehead on the table. "First he used me for a kawarimi when all those seals went off and I ended up on the bad end of Naruto's traps. I thought, 'well, alright, he just needed an out and I was the closest to him, right?'" Ino nodded, listening attentively. "But then..."

(Flashback)

Sakura and Sasuke were dodging out away from their sensei while Naruto stayed there fighting a taijutsu battle. Sakura couldn't help but feel that Naruto was holding back quite a lot, given how she had seen him fight before and how close he had become to a brawler now. Surely he hadn't let his taijutsu slip, right?

She shook her head at that and concentrated. Sasuke-kun was her target now. She had figured out that the purpose of this test was teamwork, and thanks to a carefully hidden shadow clone she had relayed as much to Naruto, who was fully willing to work with her in order to pass.

She finally approached Sasuke, who glared at her. "Stay the hell out of my way, woman," he growled before she could even get within ten feet. "I'm going to pass, and it looks like the dope's going to pass, so there's no room for you."

Sakura blinked. "Hey, but the test-"

"Is too much for a bookworm kunoichi," Sasuke sneered at her. He saw Naruto go flying after a brutal attack to his hindquarters, and jumped out into the fight.

(Flashback-Kai)

"Ouch," Ino winced at the hurt look on her friend's face. "Well, at least he got what he deserved, right?"

"No," Sakura said miserably. "He started to lose..."

(Flashback)

Sasuke looked around for any avenue of escape from the headhunter technique when he heard Sakura's scream from nearby. Kakashi had already warned him that the technique couldn't be kawarimi'd with a log since it bound a chakra system and needed a chakra system, so the target that just presented itself was too tempting.

Sakura felt her chakra system scramble and felt the earth trap her before she could gain her bearings. "Oi!" she finally yelled when she realized what had happened. "Why'd you use me and not have Naruto's clones help you?!"

"You were available. Besides, you should feel honored to be a stepping stone for my victory," Sasuke informed her before dashing off. Sakura glared at him and actually hoped that he'd end up like he had in the genjutsu, which surprised her for a moment.

(Flashback-Kai)

"Geez, I thought he was just cold and distant to keep us away," Ino said with a look of utter disgust on her face. "So did you pass, or did Sasuke-ku- Sasuke mess it up?"

"Well... I can't say we passed, because it sure didn't feel like it..."

(Flashback)

"You three have failed," Kakashi informed them. "Sakura had the right idea, and Naruto caught on rather quickly, but I leave it to you three to learn the true meaning of this test. After lunch, you shall get one more chance. Remember; you cannot feed Sakura or else you two will fail!"

Sakura moaned pitifully as her stomach growled. She had been tied to a post since she had done the 'least fighting' (and Sasuke had once more kawarimi'd with her, settling the nail in the coffin of her crush), and Naruto frowned. "Oi, Clone Squad Alpha, get over here with Emergency Scroll 4!"

A group of four clones carrying a small scroll appeared a few moments later. "You have a lunch, boss, what do you need this for?"

"I don't, Sakura-chan does," Naruto said simply, gaining a stare from the clones.

"B-But... But it's..." the clone stammered, holding the scroll close to guard it.

"Yes, but it shall be made once more on anther day," Naruto declared, confusing Sakura. The clones unsealed a large bowl of 'Uzumaki Special Ramen', the most nutritious and most expensive Ramen served in Ichiraku's Ramen, rivaling the price of lobster dinner in some of the fancier restaurants. Sakura's eyes widened when the clones came over, cut her down, and handed her the one-bowl-feast.

"Wait, why are you giving this to me?!" Sakura asked in shock.

"You've been on a diet too long, and you're starting to look a bit like I did a few years ago," Naruto joked. "Seriously, you'd be a lot prettier if you weren't all skin and bones, and you'd be healthier too. And you're hungry, so it's time for you to eat a good meal!"

"But this is-"

"A good meal for a teammate whom I hope will become precious to me," Naruto replied with a warm smile. Sakura felt her cheeks heat up and wondered why that was, when she'd practically hated the blonde yesterday. Then again, he was actually being nice, he was honest with what she was doing to herself, and with the sun the right way he didn't look too bad...

She shook her head and began eating the special slowly, which turned into utter abandonment when the dish hit her tastebuds and her starved stomach demanded more food.

Sasuke glared for a moment before sighing and giving her the half-finished remains of his bento. "If you're that hungry, you'll just drag me and the dope down later."

She glared at him, but accepted the bento with grace. She surprised herself by finishing both the near-gallon of high density Ramen and the half bento, which was mostly rice after it had been picked through. She ignored that fact and jumped when Kakashi appeared in front of them.

(one speech on how teamwork is the ultimate strength, and an inspirational 'those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comarades are worse than trash' later...)

Sakura sighed as she began walking back to her home, only to be met with Kakashi. "Sakura-chan, you seemed a bit distracted toward the end there," he said casually.

"Hai, sensei..." she said with a frown. "Why does it feel like a hollow victory? Something's not right here..."

"Very good, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said with an eye-smile. "I was forced to pass this team by the council."

Sakura's eyes widened and she whipped her head around to Kakashi. "Wait, what?!" she almost screeched, reigning in her voice at the last second.

"If you and Naruto had been paired with almost anyone else, I would have passed you without a problem," Kakashi continued. "However, I would have failed the three of you as a team thanks to Sasuke-kun's disposition. He used you several times to escape injury or a trap, and you lost faith in him. Kudos for getting on Naruto's good side, that's actually very hard to do, but he still had to save you. Naruto could get away with going to the Hokage and being put on a different team, but you and Sasuke are both going to need work. Sasuke needs to learn that other people are not merely tools, and you need to work to improve yourself as a Kunoichi, which I see beginning to happen even after just today."

Sakura was staring at the jounin in miserable horror at this point. She had passed thanks to the council forcing a jounin to work against his will. "K-Kakashi-sensei... I'm sorry that you had to-"

"Maa, maa, don't be, Sakura-chan. I'll do my best to teach all of you to overcome what ails you, though I may rely on Naruto for a few things."

Sakura nodded and continued walking. "Uh, Sensei... what do you mean you'll need to rely on Naruto?" She looked around when no answer was forthcoming and huffed at the abscence of her sensei. "At least say goodbye..."

(moments later, with Naruto and Kakashi...)

"So, Kakashi-sensei, how does that... technique... you used on me work?" Naruto asked as the team wobbled down to Ichiraku's Ramen.

"You simply focus chakra to your fingertips with the Tora sign, which causes your chakra to become volatile, and release it once you reach your target. Why?" Kakashi asked, oblivious to Naruto's plans.

"No reason, sensei, no reason," Naruto whistled as they reached the stands, Kakashi shunshining off with a shrug to see the Hokage about his new team.

(Flashback-Kai)

"Geez, and we crushed on this guy, why?" Ino asked with a wry smile. "Oh yeah.. because he's hot, mysterious, dark, and a total bad boy..." she drooled for a moment before the images matched up and she sighed. "So, Naruto actually did pretty well? I guess he did almost make rookie of the year if it weren't for Hinata."

Sakura nodded thoughtfully. "Actualy, yeah, he did... that's the wierd thing though, I keep getting this nagging feeling that something's off about him, like he's hiding something."

Ino raised an eyebrow. "Want me to take a look through his head and find out?"

"No... well, yes, but he's my teammate so it wouldn't be right," Sakura admitted.

Ino gave her a searching gaze. "And if he turns out to be another Sasuke in disguise?"

Sakura snorted, "not likely. He's about as opposite of Sasuke as you can get." She thought for a moment. "And when we were leaving, I could have sworn I heard Naruto call Kakashi 'Aniki' and Kakashi called him 'ANBU brat.' They were talking about that wierd Taijutsu move that Kakashi used on Naruto..."

Ino blinked at that. "Ooh... now I'm curious..." she had stars in her eyes. "Screw Sasuke, Naruto's turning out to be more mysterious here!"

Sakura nodded thoughtfully at that. "Geez... I wonder if that's why our sensei is so into 'looking underneath the underneath'," she groused.

"Aw, come on," Ino said with a light pat to Sakura's arm. "Let's go stalk- I mean, research Naruto for a bit! That'll get you to at least understand where Naruto's coming from and how he's so mysterious!"

Sakura chuckled at her friend and was glad for the brief interlude where they could talk to each other without conflict. Even if it was as they were hopping through the streets tracing their new blonde target.


End file.
